Man Of Steel (2013) – A Look Back

The planet Krypton is dangerously unstable after years of inhabitants mining the planet’s core. Respected scientist Jor-El recommends evacuating the planet – but before the Council can make a decision based on his findings, General Zod and his minions mount a coup.

Zod is after the population’s genetic codes – stored on what is known as the “codex”. To stop him getting hold of them, Jor-El steals it and infuses them within the DNA of his infant son Kal-El.

Jor-El is able to put Kal-El in a rocket ship and send him to Earth but afterwards Zod murders him. Zod and his henchmen are captured and sentenced to imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. Shortly after this is a devastating explosion renders Krypton no more.

Kal-El’s ship lands in Smallville, Kansas. He’s found by the childless couple Jonathan and Martha Kent who name him Clark. They raise him as their own at their farm.

Clark experiences a difficult childhood as he struggles with the emergence of his superhuman abilities. His Dad reveals to him that he is an alien and therefore must keep his powers hidden in order to avoid drawing attention to himself. So insistent on this he even forbids Clark rescuing him from a tornado that takes his life.

With the guilt weighing heavily on him Clark travels the world, helping people in need. When reporter Lois Lane uncovers a Kryptonian Scout Ship hidden in the Canadian Arctic and learns of Clark’s existence – a terrible chain of events is put in motion that will lead a freed General Zod to the planet Earth – seeking a confrontation with the son of his greatest enemy.

After the relative disappointment of Superman Returnsand the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Warner Bros decided to reboot the Supermanfilm series. The intention also being for the film to be a springboard for their own cinematic universe known as the DCEU (DC Extended Universe).

Due to the success of The Dark Knight TrilogyChristopher Nolan was appointed producer. With a script by David S. Goyer he chose Zack Snyder to direct.

British actor Henry Cavill was cast in the title role. Amy Adams was chosen for the part of Lois Lane. Laurence Fishburne was cast as Perry White, chief editor of The Daily Planet. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane were chosen for the parts of Jonathan and Martha Kent – and Michael Shannon was General Zod.

Man Of Steelwas released in June 2013 to a decidedly mixed reception. Whilst there was no doubt that it was a financial success – it wasn’t popular with a large number of critics and audiences. Many felt that it lacked the joy of the old Christopher Reeve movies. That it was too dark and took itself too seriously.

I’m going to out myself here. I am a massive fan of this film. I LOVE it. To that end I am going to try and make a case for it. Try to say why I like it and why I think YOU, my readers should give it a second chance. It really does deserve reappraisal.

I like it’s approach to the story. Man Of Steel feels a little less like a superhero movie and more like a sci-fi thriller. It has more in common with movies like The Matrixand Blade Runnerthan the old Superman screen adventures we previously knew and loved.

Those old Superman adventures represented a bygone age of The Man Of Tomorrow – whereas this movie takes it’s cue from comics published since John Byrne re-imagined the character in 1986.

Having said that though I do understand some of the criticisms levelled at this movie and I wish to address three of the most common ones.

1. Jonathan Kent rebuking young Clark Kent for rescuing the passengers on a crashed bus. Going as far as to indicate that “maybe” he should have let them perish.

Many audiences felt that this was uncharacteristically cold of Jonathan Kent – in stark contrast to previous incarnations of this character as played by Glenn Ford and John Schneider. They would more likely encourage Clark to use his powers to help those in need.

I think it’s advisable to try and look at that scene in a different context. “Maybe” means just that. “MAYBE”. It was clear that Jonathan was proud of what his son did. He was just frustrated and worried about the repercussions. He loves his son unconditionally and doesn’t want someone to come and take him away.

I don’t think that scene was an indication of any callousness on Jonathan’s part. More just expressing uncertainty and worry.

2. The “neck snapping” scene with General Zod.

Many think that killing Zod by snapping his neck was out of character for Superman. I think it was justified given in the context of the scene. Zod was about to kill an innocent family after all. Superman felt terrible for killing him.

Considering in Superman II our hero tricked Zod into giving up his powers, crushed his hand and smirked as he threw him into a bottomless abyss… Man Of Steel‘s scene of Zod’s defeat is a bit more honourable in comparison.

3. The damage done to Metropolis during Superman and Zod’s fight.

I can see that some people may not have liked this… but if superheroes were real then I think occurrences like this would be an eventual problem we’d have to prepare ourselves for.

Also I don’t think this movie commits any more sins than other superhero movies in this respect. We see plenty of citywide destruction in Marvel’s Avengersmovies.

Few movies are perfect and this one certainly isn’t. However I’ve always felt the backlash against it was somewhat harsh and I’ve never really understood it. I admire the film. It makes a conscious effort to do something different to what has come before. I don’t want a remake of old Superman movies. I have those on blu-ray. I can watch them any time I want.

When a new version of a story is made I personally want it to be different. To stand on it’s own and have it’s own identity.

No, I will not give it another chance. :p
Ok, “maybe”. :p
Seriously though, I would watch it now as a curiosity-piece, because years later we see what the DCEU has produced and what disarray it is currently foundering in, and this is the misstep that started it all. Zack Snyder. Hmmph. What more can I say about the man? He’s just wrong for this property.
If Superman is a Jesus allegory, that makes Jor-El “God” and Jonathan Kent “Joseph”. Two fathers, one cosmic, one earthly, BOTH intended to make a proper and complete man out of the Son. BOTH necessary to be the foundation and support for the rise of a HERO/SAVIOR. In this imagining, Jonathan Kent failed miserably and, well, you see what we have now. Emo Superman. Believe me, I DO understand the decision to have Jonathan Kent behave this way because it is EXACTLY what I would do in his place. “Give up your little girl so she can fly into mortal danger and live life as an outsider, constantly testing the limits of her existence.” My response? “Fuck you.” So I do get it, really. But I don’t need to see myself and my ugliness reflected back at me by Superman, of all people. When I look at Superman, I want to see the ABSOLUTE GOOD that I want to become and that I should strive for. I want to see the light, and have it show me the way.

Congratulations! Comment featured!
I take everything you say on board. Totally do. Totally get where you’re coming from. BUT…
Many of us DC fans have a theory. The theory being that Superman’s journey in MOS and BVS is leading to something. That something being his redemption in Justice League.
What I’m hoping is that upon his resurrection in that movie – he’ll be that Superman we all want him to be. I mean think about it… all the shit he’s faced, then comes back from the dead. The experience should change him. He could be that perfect specimen. I’m hoping for his resurrection scene in JL to be reminiscent of Gandalf’s in The Two Towers. Comes back even more powerful and with a totally different attitude. Any doubt he’s had before is shaken off. He can be literally the PERFECT embodiment of Superman.
IF that works (and yeah – it’s a BIG IF) then I do honestly think that people will look back on MOS and BVS a bit more kindly.
I want to see the same Superman you want to see – but I like the idea of him going through some trials to get to that place.
And also you’ve got to remember – people do look back on the old Christopher Reeve films with slightly rose tinted specs. He wasn’t perfect then either. Look at how he behaves in Superman 2! Gave up his powers to be with Lois, killed Zod, beat the shit out of the guy in the diner at the end (kinda cruel even if the guy WAS a bully). I mean… come on! He had some real “jerk” moments there! Difference is, Christopher Reeve did it with a grin on his face.

Hey, thanks bro! Also I forgot to mention I do like your write-up here, but you and I go way back on disagreeing on this DC stuff. I feel like I’m in a bad relationship with Zack Snyder/WB and they’re emotionally abusing me. Sure I like to see a redemption, but how much more can I take? You know my feelings toward BvS, and as a consequence I am giving ‘Justice League’ a big ol’ skip in theaters. That’s my ‘fuck you’ to Zack in payback for the ‘fuck you’ that is BvS. The JL trailer makes it look like fun but I’m completely shy at this point, like a dog that’s been whipped too many times. I’ll definitely participate in your talkback and read your review, but I’ll catch it on tv at some later date. I hope you and other DC fans are correct, and a new Superman emerges, but I’ve checked out already. BvS was more than I could stand. Now…Wonder Woman on the other hand…my wife is a fan so I WILL be seeing that one opening night, for her, and I think the trailers make it look really good.
Hmmm, so, Superman II. Yeah I can advocate that one at all. I stick with ‘Superman: The Movie’ and let the rest fall where they may.

I do still ADORE Superman II – I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I only mention it to make a point. Also – I’ve got bad news. I’ve got a funny feeling you’re going to get dragged into Justice League. Your wife’s a Wonder Woman fan right? She’s in it bro… 😉
Plays quite a big role too from what I understand! :p

Ok, if wifey wants to see JL then I’ll do it for her, but I can only imagine my reaction, as I’ll be watching it through hate-tinted glasses. It will be *extremely* difficult to separate or forget my disdain for Zack Snyder while I’m sitting there. And now that Matt Reeves has moved away from ‘The Batman’ it looks like the time is ripe for Snyder to move in there, too.

I very much doubt Snyder will do that. After JL it’s going to be announced he’s leaving the DC films. You can set your watch by it. So I hope he gives us all a kickass JL film before he goes.
As for The Batman… I think it’s about time some motherfucker gave JUSTIN LIN a call!

I repeat myself a lot on these boards, I’m sure, but the reason Superman, Star Wars and the rest are awful is that society is less outward-looking. Everyone’s such an individual now that we have very little sense of societal duty. This is the essence of Superman, and in fact why we actually need him to be old-fashioned. When his dad says ‘maybe let kids die’ or his mum says ‘you don’t owe them a thing’, that’s dialogue designed to a appeal to people’s sense of self, in the same way Clark’s moping around being a backpacking hitchhiker is. Modern writers think you need to have that angle and it’s a gross misreading of the character. He symbolises virtue, hope, values. Clark’s adopted father in STM was absolutely perfect. He imbued him with values and a sense of duty. It’s not that these characters (certainly in the books) aren’t beset by doubts; it’s that you’re missing their essence. It’s the same way you miss the essence of Lois by making her so defiantly independent. Yes, you need strong characters, but the core dynamic of Superman is him saving his girlfriend. Same with Tarzan and any number of stories. Is it politically correct? No. Is it why we like the stories; why they’ve endured? Yes. There’s something elemental about them that switching up bits to appeal to consumers ruins that.

Hard to say. But I’m adamant that it’s the reason people still love the older films. Even if you show them to kids now, they love them. They resonate. People have an inherent fear of standing up and doing the right thing. It’s up to cinema to show them things to aspire to. No one’s ever going to cheer for Henry Cavill like they do Christopher Reeve.

Hey man, if its shit you know I’ll be honest about it. Its just people are so quick to write off MOS and BVS… What I’m trying to do is say to people “Hold fire! I think I see what Snyder’s doing here… And I think it MIGHT work. Wait till the dude shows ALL his cards!”
You know?

Your honesty and willingness-to-listen about movies are the main reasons I respect you and your opinion.
I get where you’re coming from, allowing Snyder to tell his whole story, IF we can say that it’s been his plan all along (personally I feel like WB is flying by the seat of their pants on this DCEU stuff) and he’s simply been laying foundation for his masterwork. And in all fairness, Snyder didn’t get to this point in his career by being a loser: I love ‘Watchmen’ and I enjoyed ‘300’, but his ‘Dawn of the Dead’ remake was FUCKING AWESOME. Aside from the zombies that can out-distance Usain Bolt, it was a perfect movie. He’s got talent, I just wish he hadn’t come near Superman.

I really don’t know how I feel about Watchmen. Hmm. Might be an article in that!
I think the DCEU DOES have planning behind it – its just many audiences want a Marvel style thing.
Thanks for your kind words btw

You bet! 🙂
I think that was WB first miscalculation. They witnessed Marvel explode out of the gate with Iron Man and start building the MCU and wanted to play catch-up…when they didn’t ever need to. WB was already holding the two biggest cards in any deck: Superman and Batman. They are my two favorite superheroes and personally I would say fuck any Marvel hero (aside from Hulk) and give me more Superman and more Batman. ‘Man of Steel’ being what it was, BvS didn’t need to be so quick to slap together a universe of heroes. All we needed was a good sequel or a Batman reboot. The two guys are all-time classic characters that have a deeply rooted longevity. I feel that WB jumped the gun on this when they could’ve comfortably settled in for the long haul. For that I can only blame the American culture of “gimme gimme more NOW, ok thanks, now what else ya got for me? [repeat]”.

Yeah in theory – but there’s another problem they’d run into. Marvel have done it. They had the luxury of it never having been tried before. So they were able to drip feed the movies because audiences didn’t know precisely what they were going to end up getting. They built the universe in front of our eyes.
So the problem is now that there’s nothing new about it. Audiences automatically now know where DC are eventually heading – so they want everything a bit sooner. DC has had to show it’s hand much earlier cause there is a danger that fans might not afford them the same kind of patience. You know?
Besides, in principle I like DC’s approach. Marvel built their universe before our eyes – DC is throwing us headfirst into a universe that’s already there. I dig that. Especially as a comic book fan.
Whilst BVS and certainly Suicide Squad have their issues – I like that we were never shown any origin stories. These guys are already out there and doing their thing. Hints at the previous demise of Robin and a war between The Joker and Batman having raged for DECADES before the start of the film(s)… there’s just something in that whole approach that I really like.
I WANT to see it work!

It is in a way. I mean they’re making a lot more of these films so it’s not like they’re flops.
Marvel have kind of crafted this new vision of what the “superhero” is. DC kind of flies in the face of that.
So any audience member who’s not read a comic book in their life but has seen a million Marvel films and only old Christopher Reeve Superman might be a little taken aback by MOS and BVS cause it ain’t what they’re expecting. You know?
I think that’s a LOT of what the problem is!

Batman is an extremely commercial property. I don’t know what it is about it man… but it makes MONEY. It REALLY does. Fuck man… even Batman & Robin was a commercial hit despite the bad reviews and negative word of mouth.
You have no idea how urgently you need to be here 48 hours from now man… you really don’t! 😉

I think it’s Wonder Woman who will save the DCCU, for the reason that girls are deliberately being given a hero to cheer for. With the male superheroes, there’s a sense that they feel guilty being aspirational; embarrassed almost. With Wonder Woman there’s a social function; a need for the hero to be a torchbearer. This is why it’ll work, and possibly from that point the whole Zack Snyder angle will be reevaluated. The safety net Wonder Woman has is the same as Captain America: she’s from another time. This gives a plausibility to the earnestness.

Except that that different time isn’t early 20th century earnestness like Cap. It’s an ancient warrior race tied to Greek mythology. As much as WW cares for humanity, she loves a good scrap. Don’t expect a female Cpt. America in WW.

Yeah, but you get the Greek virtues in place of that. I’m not really expecting them to be similar; what I’m saying is there is an idealistic purity to both characters, of the kind Superman should have but doesn’t at this time.

12stepCornelius

Superman does (did) have it. He just had to nearly bury it in BvS because of the weight of the world upon him. I get what you’re saying though. I truly believe that Superman will return to the world embracing him and letting him shine through his “Ideal of Hope”. It would also be great to see Gal’s beautiful smile as Diana greets a returned Superman and the two become the most virtuous members of the League.

1. I sort of get where Pa kent was coming from. But when it was a bus full of kids , it does come off very cold.

2. If they had only set up ahead of time that supes had a problem with killing…..

3. If they just once showed that supes tried to save someone, or even cared about the destruction going on around him. Something The Avengers did.
Or if he just once tried to draw the fight away from the city. Even if he failed, and Zod saw the advantage of keeping it there due to supes caring about the people …..

Fair enough! Can’t argue with any of that mate! There are quite a few ways the film could’ve been better.

12stepCornelius

“Superman didn’t save anyone.”
I hate this ridiculous argument. It’s beyond ignorant. He saved EVERYONE. The entire world. 7 billion people he saved. He also caught the soldier who fell from the chopper in Smallville. Saved the school bus of children. Saved the oil rig workers. Saved the family about to be killed by Zod’s heat vision. Saved Lois Lane 3 descernible times. But yeah, the movie “never showed him save anyone.

“He didn’t care about the destruction.”

First off, it was his FIRST DAY as Superman and he was fighting beings that could easily kill
him and were trying to take over the whole planet through genocide. It was literally a fight-for-your-life and the lives of others scenario. Have someone break into your home and threaten to kill your family. See if you give a shit when the family dinner table breaks or that lamp shatters. The more immediate threat (invader) is obviously the top priority. You don’t have time to try and fix the table or catch the lamp while trying to keep a killer from harming you or your family. And Superman twice attempted to get Zod out of Metropolis. He first tried to punch him out of the city during their chase and then literally threw him into space. But yeah, “not once did he try to bring the fight elsewhere.”

I think he took your point three and ran with it. If nothing else, we are living out the polarizing effects of this movie several years after its release. Some call it a masterpiece, but I can’t go there.

It’s like LupeX said above and I’ve said before… many of the people who dislike the movie (and with the following I don’t mean anyone here) “think” they know Superman when they actually don’t.
They say “Man Of Steel” isn’t a faithful Superman movie when in fact precisely the OPPOSITE is true.
It does accurately reflect the tone of the comics. It’s nothing new either – Superman comics have been like that for well over 30 years!
Is it a masterpiece? No, probably not. Few films are.
If I were a filmmaker would I have done it that way? No I wouldn’t.
But I can accept it. Maybe being a huge DC nut makes me a little biased but there it is.
I had an idea for how to reboot Superman myself. It wasn’t quite like MOS.
The story I had in mind went like this:
It starts as Clark Kent has just moved to Metropolis and takes a job at the Daily Planet. He’s been there a few weeks and he’s begun dating Lois Lane.
He has all his powers and saves people and does heroic things as anonymously as he can. Lois is investigating the story – obviously not knowing it’s her boyfriend doing it all. He takes to wearing glasses after he runs into a few people he’s saved on the street.
Braniac attacks Earth – and Clark gets a call from his Dad telling him he needs to come to Smallville and see him urgently.
So he goes back to the farm and his Dad shows him the rocket ship that bought him to Earth. Clark is stunned to find out he’s an alien but no more clues are offered than that to his origin. Except for a bit of cloth that has the iconic S symbol on it.
Clark doesn’t know why but seeing that symbol stirs him somehow.
Anyway he goes back to Metropolis and decides he must do battle with Braniac.
Before he does so he makes himself a shirt with the S symbol on it and does battle with with his enemy.
For most of the story he wouldn’t wear the iconic outfit. He’d just wear jeans, normal boots, and an unbuttoned check shirt left open to reveal a T-shirt with his symbol on it.
(I got that idea from the New 52 Superman Action Comics book). Quite an unfussy look.
At the end of the story he’d defeat Braniac and reveal himself to a stunned world. Lois Lane writes an article called “Who is this Superman”?
It would end with him receiving the key to the city from the Mayor – Lex Luthor. His Mom makes him the blue suit with the cape to accept the honour. So we’d only see him in the classic get up right at the end.
The film would feature a cameo from Batman in a scene I’d lift from John Byrne’s classic comic run. He’d fly over to Gotham to ask Batman what the hell he thinks he’s playing at – but the two would end up talking normally and both be surprised to find out that they’re kindred spirits in a way.
I’d like to think I’d be clever about that and there could be a Batman film coming out around the same time where the events of each run parallel. It could have a scene where Bruce Wayne is in the Batcave watching the news broadcasts about what’s happening in Metropolis. In the Superman film there’s scenes of Clark Kent watching news about this shadowy vigilante in Gotham.
The Batman film would have the exact same scene where Superman comes to Gotham to find him – so in each film we’d see the SAME moment from each protagonists point of view.
As for Superman finding out he’s from Krypton and what happened to the planet? I’d leave that for the sequel. A sequel where he’d doing a piece on Lex Luthor’s run for President – and uncover some quite nasty things about him.
As he finds out these details he calls Bruce Wayne and asks him to keep an eye on Luthor at a fundraiser in Gotham.
In the Batman sequel, Bruce takes some time out of his adventure to do this little job for Clark Kent.
Both the Superman and Batman sequel would end with Luthor becoming President.
It’s here that I’d drop Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Wonder Woman solo movies. During the course of these stories they’d all witness Luthor’s rise to the Presidency.
Then I’d drop the big Batman & Superman team up movie. Inspired by “Public Enemies”. Luthor would put out an executive order to apprehend Superman – The Flash, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Aquaman would all be out to get him under the orders of President Luthor. Superman’s only ally is Batman and together they go on the run from all who are after them. At the end all Superman’s pursuers realise that Luthor has been playing them and they all team up to bring him to justice. It would end with Luthor being impeached.
Then Darkseid would invade. Leading to the Justice League movie.
But that’s just me.

Great write up. I have always thought that Man of Steel is a masterpiece. Ive been a Superman reader since I can remember. Among all my friends I was the only one who would champion Superman while they loved Batman, Green Lantern, Spiderman, Spawn, Cable, Ghost Rider etc. I remember that people mocked Superman for being a “square”, for being a “boyscout”, for being “too good”, for lacking depth and not having any real challenges ergo he wasn’t interesting. This was not just the notion among a few fans, it was the widely held notion among fans and the general public. But they were wrong.
People who know Superman know that he is more than all of that. While the Superman (Reeve) movies (I & II) were legendary, there overt camp and glaring positivity did a great disservice to the image of the character. For generations, while audiences got accostumed to more sophisticated storytelling, they rigidly held on to the notion that the Donner Superman is only what the character is.
Zack Snyder is the first director who was bold enough to bring to the silver screen what Superman readers have known about the character. That he is multifaceted, he is dynamic, he does have a personality, he can hope and he can be hopeless, he can smile and he can be hurt … he has depths and there is a rich psychology to explore in a character who is invincible but not invulnerable. Lots of audience members of DC fans who actually dont read Superman (we call them hover fans) do not know the character that well.
Batman V Superman is also a masterpiece created by someone who has a deep understanding of the characters, one can argue, so deep that it leaves uninformed fans in doubt. The problem these says is that we have so many fanboys who think they know it all, uninformed armchair experts who convince themselves that they are right meanwhile the professionals are wrong.
Im glad for the epic hero’s journey Clark Kent is on and the fact that a true Superman fanboy in Snyder go to bring him to the silver screen!

Wow – thanks for the reply and please stick around! There is plenty more DC Superhero discussion here in the archives and a lot more to come! Make sure you’re here in 48 hours – that’s all I’m saying! Make a start with this New 52 article http://www.themanwhosavedmovies.com/the-new-52-part-1/ I’d love to know what you think of it! Also this one may interest you too! http://www.themanwhosavedmovies.com/the-man-who-saved-movies-supports-the-dc-extended-universe/
I totally get what you’re saying about the Superman character. I first encountered the character with the old Christopher Reeve movies and whilst I do love the first two of those dearly – the comics have moved on from that – certainly since 1986.
I certainly agree with you that it’s been difficult for screen versions to move on from that. Whilst everyone slated MOS I was like “guys… this is actually a pretty faithful rendition we’ve got here” you know?
I’ve never heard the term “hover fans”. I LIKE IT!!!
As for Batman V Superman – that will be spoken about in due course. I do have some issues with it – but I in no way think it’s the disaster many make it out to be.
Please – spread the word! This site is DC friendly!
Great to have you here! 🙂

Being a DC fanboy in an age of Marvel makes me feel like a hustler. I love it! Its why I do these articles.

President of what?

Agree and disagree!!! 😛

12stepCornelius

Look, the Marvel movies are fun for a watch or two. But I’ve literally seen those films once, maybe twice if they happened to have a decent story too. But they’re surface level making for an easy watch and decent time in the theater.

And The Dark Knight trilogy is GREAT. Seen those movies a dozen times and Batman Begins is my favorite Batman film to date. True cinema for a superhero property.

But Man of Steel just blew me away. With its grand story, epic Hans Zimmer score (one of the best film scores I’ve heard) Cavill as Superman, great action scenes that truly capture what a real world superhero could do, and Zack’s amazing visuals make it the best superhero movie I’ve ever seen. For a superhero film I give it a 10/10 and notice that it’s aging incredibly well. Still become glued to the screen whenever I decide to put it on (which is often). I love that Snyder decided to focus more on the MAN and less of the SUPER while still acknowledging that Clark basically holds the power of a god and what that can do a person who grew up a human.

I feel Marvel has enough of a hold on the superhero market to enable me to make this a site that supports DC.
Please check out some of my previous articles. I talk about DC a lot! ☺

Gigantic Cahuna

What a day! Banned from AICN! Seriously. About five of us culled in one go for simply asking Herc why he banned so many people!

Anyway – I love MoS. I think the challenge with Superman is to imagine what would happen if, in this cynical and fearful world, a man who was effectively a God appeared. To me, MoS does that. The only complaint I have is the Jonathan Kent death being so overblown. It’s the subtlety and sudden horror, with Clarke’s powerlessness, that nails the moment in the original movie.

That guy is such a tool. I was reading that talkback. Its pathetic. I was amused by that guy who said he didn’t earn shit. That was great!
Stay here man. Try and reach out to those other guys that got banned too if you can ?
You are all more than welcome here! ?
Remember, I WANT people to disagree with me. That makes this a website!
Not an online circle jerk like Herc seems to always want.

Gigantic Cahuna

I have now been banned twice it one day! It must be Sunday. I could never get the hang of Sundays! I think Theragen Derivative II and comedy KillliK also got culled too. What a thin skinned little Hitler that man is! I will see if I can contact any of them for you.

Out of curiosity, where did you find out about this place? I wish to pass on my good wishes! ??

KillliK

Gigantic Cahuna told me about it. Said there was a pretty cool place where the decent articles are written in clear, sensible English and then people discuss the articles in a civil and friendly manner. Sounded full of win to me!

I don’t understand what he expects to achieve with his behavior. I really don’t.

Skraggo

I actually watched a little bit of one of his live video things where he talks and answers talkbacker questions, and he came off a little bit better than he does when he’s trolling at Coaxial. But ultimately I think he’s just a prick. The banhammer thing is just a little man swinging a big club around. I don’t like even giving him any clicks, but he always gets me with his clickbait b.s.

Thanks so much for stating your case about MOS, Stu!
This reboot is as polarizing as last year’s presidential election! Oops! okay, I exaggerated a bit, but you get what i’m saying.
Personally, MOS is one of my favorite DCEU films as well as placing it within the 2000-2015 list http://thesupernaughts.com/columns/rated-dee/the-supernaughts-crown-their-top-10-movies-from-2000-2015/7/ in general but it got such an undeserved reception due to fanbois still stuck with the good ol Reeve mythos.I applaud Zac and Nolan for having the cajones to do something different yet daring.
The epic fight scenes were no doubt inspired from Anime. (More like Birdy the Mighty than Dragonball Z.)

First two instalments of my look at the Batman movies are up if you fancy a read! 🙂
Since it was the last DC movie you watched, do I take that to mean you didn’t care for it?

KGrimes

Yeah, I’m already tackling those articles 😀

Yeah, Man of Steel was too dour for me. I had really bought into the amazing trailer it had but felt it was misleading. I didn’t get the Superman I wanted to see, and found myself growing increasingly frustrated and disconnected as the climax moved from one destructible setpiece to the next (with bizarre choices for ad-placement, like an extended scene taking place in an iHop and a Sears warehouse/stripmall in the middle of an empty stretch of country).

The more I saw of DC films (in the trailers), the less they looked and felt like heroes. Too brown, gray, serious, long and growly for my tastes so I decided I wouldn’t bother spending money/time on them (and many other big films in the past couple yrs, I don’t want to pick on DC). From what I’ve heard about BvS and Suicide Squad though, my instincts didn’t lead me astray.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Reeve Superman films, more so 1 and 2, superman 2 in particular was my most watched film as a kid. so any new superman film is welcome, but they will always have big shoes to fill. I’m all for doing something different, Batman Begins for example was different, but where it succeeded MOS failed. I know that supes is an entirely different character rooted in sci fi but MOS just reminded me of another extravagant sfx blockbuster in the transformers mould. I had high hopes as the trailers were fantastic and the score with the piano motif was excellent, but I was more disappointed by this than Superman Returns. cavill looks the part but he has no charisma, he looks constipated throughout and brings little to the role. Amy Adams was an improvement over Kate Bosworth but I felt zero chemistry between her and cavill. this film brought the action/the effects/the destruction etc, everything we wanted from Superman Returns, but it lacked emotion, suspense, heart and convincing performances. even Michael Shannon looks constipated throughout.